Matching Items (37)
Description
This dissertation study examines the coping methods and attributional styles of peer victimized children versus those who are not involved with acts of bullying. Data corresponding to elementary school children (n=317) over a period of four years from four public elementary schools in the Southwest United States was used in the present study. Latent class analyses and correlations were conducted to explore (1) whether externalizing versus internalizing or passive emotional reactions differentially influence the attributions children make regarding victimization, (2) whether externalizing types of emotional reactions differentially influence the coping methods victimized children utilize, and (3) whether children identified as "bullies" experience different types of emotional reactions than those identified as "victims." Findings revealed that children who identified as self-reported victims tended to report higher levels of internalizing feelings. However, contradictory to what was hypothesized, the victim group also reported higher levels of being mad. Specific patterns arose between the types of attributions that victimized and non-victimized children made, where the children who identified more frequently as being victims tended to report that they believed bullying took place due to reasons that were more personal in nature and more stable. Lastly, findings also revealed similarities in the ways victimized children coped with bullying.
ContributorsRandall, Megan (Author) / Caterino, Linda C (Thesis advisor) / Nakagawa, Kathryn (Committee member) / McCoy, Kathleen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Every year, potential graduate students hunt through websites and promotional materials searching for the perfect program to fit their needs. The search requires time and patience, especially for those future scholars who seek a doctoral program in Education Policy Studies (EPS) with a focus on interacting with the policymaking process. The primary objective of this project was to explore the promotional materials of EPS doctoral programs in order to better understand how these programs promote formalized training for students to engage with education policy and the policymaking process. I selected the top 10 EPS programs in the nation along with my own institution (Arizona State University) as the sample for this study. By reviewing their websites, I found that programs provide a comparable training description for similar careers as well as upholding similar goals in the subfield of EPS. Ultimately, the program materials revealed that while these programs advertise significant formalized training in research methods and scholarly pursuits, opportunities to actively engage with policymaking were missing from the materials. Instead, it is more likely that such opportunities occur in informal settings such as apprenticeships and working at research centers. This study provides a detailed discussion of how programs promote training opportunities to students, the types of careers that programs claim to prepare students for, and the important role that faculty projects and additional resources play in the student experience related to engagement with policy and the policymaking process.
ContributorsLong-Genovese, Stacey (Author) / Garcia, David R. (Thesis advisor) / Ott, Molly (Committee member) / Hinchey, Patricia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This study examined the mediating role of children's self-reported appraisals in the relation between interparental conflict intensity and child adjustment. Both parent-reported and child-reported conflict intensity were used as predictor variables. Findings suggested that children's total appraisals mediated the relationship between child-reported conflict intensity and all four outcome variables (conduct disorder, depression, anxiety, and total adjustment). Additionally, children's appraisals of negative evaluation by others mediated the relationship between child-reported conflict intensity and depression, and both rejection and negative evaluation by others mediated the relationship between child-reported conflict intensity and anxiety. Only one mediational relationship was established when assessing conflict intensity through parent report, with children's appraisals of harm to others mediating the relationship between parent-reported conflict intensity and anxiety. Findings from this study outline the importance of assessing conflict and appraisals from the child's perspective as results indicated a higher level of mediating effects of child appraisals in the relation between conflict and child outcomes when assessing conflict from the child's perspective.
ContributorsBeard, Rachelle (Author) / Miller, Paul A. (Thesis advisor) / Caterino, Linda C (Thesis advisor) / Nakagawa, Kathryn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This study investigated the relationship between school start times and academic and school behavioral outcomes among adolescents. Academic achievement test data from five high schools in a Southwestern school district were compared prior- and post- a school start time change. Behavioral discipline reports were also examined to determine if earlier start times resulted in more behavioral problems for students. Results indicated minimal changes in academic achievement scores, with some significant differences between school start times when examining students' performance by pass/fail categories. Behaviorally, there were statistically significant differences between school start times with regards to high frequency referrals (i.e., attendance-related and defiance and disrespect towards authority), and total Office Discipline Referrals. Results are discussed in relationship to previous research on sleep and school start times along with the implications for adolescent school performance.
ContributorsBrown, Ashley (Author) / Caterino, Linda C (Thesis advisor) / Balles, John (Committee member) / Stamm, Jill (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The popularity of response-to-intervention (RTI) frameworks of service delivery has increased in recent years. Scholars have speculated that RTI may be particularly relevant to the special education assessment process for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, due to its suspected utility in ruling out linguistic proficiency as the primary factor in learning difficulties. The present study explored how RTI and traditional assessment methods were integrated into the psychoeducational evaluation process for students suspected of having specific learning disabilities (SLD). The content of psychoeducational evaluation reports completed on students who were found eligible for special education services under the SLD category from 2009-2013 was analyzed. Two main research questions were addressed: how RTI influenced the psychoeducational evaluation process, and how this process differed for CLD and non-CLD students. Findings indicated variability in the incorporation of RTI in evaluation reports, with an increase across time in the tendency to reference the prereferral intervention process. However, actual RTI data was present in a minority of reports, with the inclusion of such data more common for reading than other academic areas, as well as more likely for elementary students than secondary students. Contrary to expectations, RTI did not play a larger role in evaluation reports for CLD students than reports for non-CLD students. Evaluations of CLD students also did not demonstrate greater variability in the use of traditional assessments, and were more likely to rely on nonverbal cognitive measures than evaluations of non-CLD students. Methods by which practitioners addressed linguistic proficiency were variable, with parent input, educational history, and individually-administered proficiency test data commonly used. Assessment practices identified in this study are interpreted in the context of best practice recommendations.
ContributorsPlanck, Jennifer A (Author) / Caterino, Linda C (Thesis advisor) / Stamm, Jill (Committee member) / Cohen, Sylvia A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine which social-emotional skills may predict postsecondary enrollment for students with disabilities. Students with disabilities are less likely to enroll in any form of postsecondary education and in turn experience poorer post-education outcomes than their general education peers. Using data from the second National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS2), a classification tree analysis was conducted on teacher-rated social-emotional behaviors in an attempt to determine which social-emotional skills were the strongest predictors of postsecondary enrollment. Items assessing social-emotional skills were selected from the second wave of teacher surveys based on their alignment with the broad taxonomy of social-emotional skills created by Caldarella and Merrell. The results of the classification tree analysis showed that one of the selected social-emotional items, teacher rated ability to follow directions, was the most significant predictor of postsecondary enrollment for students with disabilities. In general, the results suggest that compliance and, to a lesser extent, peer-relations skills, in addition to family income, predict postsecondary enrollment for students with high-incidence disabilities. This finding suggests that social-emotional skills play an important role in postsecondary enrollment for SWD, providing support for the use of social-emotional skills interventions in improving postsecondary enrollment rates and potentially post-educational outcomes for SWD.
ContributorsKaprolet, Charles M (Author) / Sullivan, Amanda L (Thesis advisor) / Caterino, Linda C (Committee member) / Yu, Chong Ho (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The five-factor model of personality is a conceptual model for describing personality, and represents five traits which are theorized to interact with each other to form personality. The Big Five Questionnaire-Children (BFQ-C) was developed by Barbaranelli, Caprara, Rabasca and Pastorelli (2003) specifically to measure the five factor model in children. The original version was in Italian, but it has subsequently been translated and used in Dutch, German, and Spanish samples. Given that the BFQ-C has support in Europe, obtained in four different languages it seems promising as an assessment of personality for English speaking children and adolescents. The BFQ-C was translated into English utilizing translation and back translation in order to maintain a high conceptual equivalency. The current study utilizes principal components analysis in order to examine the structure of the English language translation of the BFQ-C in a sample of American adolescents. Results indicate that in contrast to the Italian study, findings from this study suggest a six component solution as the most effective interpretation of the data.
ContributorsGaio, Vanesa M (Author) / Caterino, Linda C (Thesis advisor) / Thompson, Marilyn (Committee member) / Miller, Paul A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The three essays in this dissertation each examine how aspects of contemporary administrative structure within American research universities affect faculty outcomes. Specific aspects of administrative structure tested in this dissertation include the introduction of new administrative roles, administrative intensity (i.e. relative size of university administration), and competing roles between faculty, administrators, and staff. Using quantitative statistical methods these aspects of administrative structure are tested for their effects on academic grant productivity, faculty job stress, and faculty job satisfaction. Administrative datasets and large scale national surveys make up the data for these studies and quantitative statistical methods confirm most of the hypothesized relationships.
In the first essay, findings from statistical modeling using instrumental variables suggest that academic researchers who receive administrative support for grant writing and management obtain fewer grants and have a lower success rate. However, the findings also suggest that the grants these researchers do receive are much larger in terms of dollars. The results indicate that administrative support is particularly beneficial in academic grant situations of high-risk, high-reward. In the second essay, ordered logit models reveal a statistically significant and stronger relationship between staff intensity (i.e., the ratio of faculty to staff workers) and faculty stress than the relationship between executive intensity (i.e., the ratio faculty to executive and managerial workers) and faculty job stress. These findings confirm theory that the work of faculty is more loosely coupled with the work of executives than it is with staff workers. A possible explanation is the increase in administrative work faculty must take on as there are fewer staff workers to take on administrative tasks. And finally, in the third essay results from multi-level modeling confirm that both role clarity and institutional support positively affect both a global measure of faculty job satisfaction and faculty satisfaction with how their work time is allocated. Understanding the effects that administrative structure has on faculty outcomes will aid universities as faculty administrative burdens ebb and flow in reaction to macro trends in higher education, such as unbundling of faculty roles, unbundling of services, neoliberalism, liberal arts decline, and administrative bloat.
In the first essay, findings from statistical modeling using instrumental variables suggest that academic researchers who receive administrative support for grant writing and management obtain fewer grants and have a lower success rate. However, the findings also suggest that the grants these researchers do receive are much larger in terms of dollars. The results indicate that administrative support is particularly beneficial in academic grant situations of high-risk, high-reward. In the second essay, ordered logit models reveal a statistically significant and stronger relationship between staff intensity (i.e., the ratio of faculty to staff workers) and faculty stress than the relationship between executive intensity (i.e., the ratio faculty to executive and managerial workers) and faculty job stress. These findings confirm theory that the work of faculty is more loosely coupled with the work of executives than it is with staff workers. A possible explanation is the increase in administrative work faculty must take on as there are fewer staff workers to take on administrative tasks. And finally, in the third essay results from multi-level modeling confirm that both role clarity and institutional support positively affect both a global measure of faculty job satisfaction and faculty satisfaction with how their work time is allocated. Understanding the effects that administrative structure has on faculty outcomes will aid universities as faculty administrative burdens ebb and flow in reaction to macro trends in higher education, such as unbundling of faculty roles, unbundling of services, neoliberalism, liberal arts decline, and administrative bloat.
ContributorsTaggart, Gabel (Author) / Welch, Eric (Thesis advisor) / Bozeman, Barry (Committee member) / Ott, Molly (Committee member) / Stritch, Justin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate several factors associated with cyberbullying and its victims; gender, age, and the time spent using various forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Because cross-national studies are so important to understanding the similarities and differences found in this global problem, the current study explored the connection between traditional bullying and cyberbullying in middle school students in both the United States (N = 111) and Germany (N = 279). Participants ranged in age from 12 to 15 years and were administered self-report questionnaires during the regular school day. It was predicted that German students would have higher mean rates of CMC use; Americans would have higher mean rates of participation in and being victims of cyberbullying; there would be no mean differences in American and German student outcomes as either victims or perpetrators of traditional bullying. Results indicated that German students did use CMC more often than American students did, but Americans used certain forms of CMC more often, such as texting, IM and email. Contrary to expectations, Germans were more likely to participate in cyber and traditional bullying behavior. Americans did have a greater number of victims compared to perpetrators for both traditional and cyberbullying behavior. Additional results found that the American sample had a pattern of decreasing then increasing behavior as student age increased, across participation in all forms of bullying behavior, and participation rates often depended on the age of the students involved. Future research suggestions might focus on the importance of distinguishing the varying thought processes that define cyberbullying within a culture, specifically within our own culture. Additional research might also address how online communities and their inherent social norms and interactions, may inadvertently contribute to increasing cyberbullying and victimization of others outside of those groups and communities. Finally, due to the constant updating and improvement of social media, a follow- up study utilizing updated online applications would add considerably to the current knowledge base.
The purpose of this study was to investigate several factors associated with cyberbullying and its victims; gender, age, and the time spent using various forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Because cross-national studies are so important to understanding the similarities and differences found in this global problem, the current study explored the connection between traditional bullying and cyberbullying in middle school students in both the United States (N = 111) and Germany (N = 279). Participants ranged in age from 12 to 15 years and were administered self-report questionnaires during the regular school day. It was predicted that German students would have higher mean rates of CMC use; Americans would have higher mean rates of participation in and being victims of cyberbullying; there would be no mean differences in American and German student outcomes as either victims or perpetrators of traditional bullying. Results indicated that German students did use CMC more often than American students did, but Americans used certain forms of CMC more often, such as texting, IM and email. Contrary to expectations, Germans were more likely to participate in cyber and traditional bullying behavior. Americans did have a greater number of victims compared to perpetrators for both traditional and cyberbullying behavior. Additional results found that the American sample had a pattern of decreasing then increasing behavior as student age increased, across participation in all forms of bullying behavior, and participation rates often depended on the age of the students involved. Future research suggestions might focus on the importance of distinguishing the varying thought processes that define cyberbullying within a culture, specifically within our own culture. Additional research might also address how online communities and their inherent social norms and interactions, may inadvertently contribute to increasing cyberbullying and victimization of others outside of those groups and communities. Finally, due to the constant updating and improvement of social media, a follow- up study utilizing updated online applications would add considerably to the current knowledge base.
ContributorsGaio, Vanesa (Author) / Caterino, Linda C (Thesis advisor) / DiGangi, Samuel (Committee member) / Miller, Paul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Promoting student engagement is a critical performance indicator for undergraduate success and is, therefore, a priority for academic institutions as they seek to improve teaching and learning practices (Meyer, 2014). Educators need to improve their instructional pedagogy by developing unique methods for engaging students with educational opportunities. Instructors who facilitate courses online face an even greater challenge in engaging students. A virtual learning community is a potential solution for improving online engagement.
This mixed methods action research dissertation explores the implementation of an online learning community and how it influences the engagement of students in distance learning environments. The primary research question guiding this inquiry is: How and to what extent does the implementation of an online learning community influence undergraduate student engagement in online courses? A sequential triangulation design was used to analyze data collected from surveys and responses collected from study participants during a synchronous online focus group. The analysis of the results of the study provide interesting insight into the online engagement of students. Key findings from the study are: 1) the inclusion of diverse perspectives is important for students and they value having opportunities to share their knowledge with peers; 2) an online learning community is beneficial for student engagement and this type of model is one they would participate in the future; 3) students experience a disconnect with peers when engagement opportunities in online discussion platforms feel insincere.
This mixed methods action research dissertation explores the implementation of an online learning community and how it influences the engagement of students in distance learning environments. The primary research question guiding this inquiry is: How and to what extent does the implementation of an online learning community influence undergraduate student engagement in online courses? A sequential triangulation design was used to analyze data collected from surveys and responses collected from study participants during a synchronous online focus group. The analysis of the results of the study provide interesting insight into the online engagement of students. Key findings from the study are: 1) the inclusion of diverse perspectives is important for students and they value having opportunities to share their knowledge with peers; 2) an online learning community is beneficial for student engagement and this type of model is one they would participate in the future; 3) students experience a disconnect with peers when engagement opportunities in online discussion platforms feel insincere.
ContributorsSneed, Obiageli (Author) / Ott, Molly (Thesis advisor) / Crawford, Steven (Committee member) / Magruder, Olysha (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019